Hi Chris,

 

You wrote:

>well, a cognomen is a kind of nickname.

 

Yes, but more in a positive way, isn't it? Not so much a degrading one.

 

>except that _chenardus/canardus_ doesn't mean "duck" in the 12th c.

 

Ah, bummer. I stand corrected.

 

>well, we don't really have to establish that "chenard" was used as an heraldic

emblem, do we?

 

>only that it was a plant --it being well known that all sorts of plants were

put to that purpose by the middlevils.

 

There is, sadly, no indication that the hemp leaf has ever been used in heraldry until the early 1970’s. In fact: the only plants/flowers that are used in early heraldry, by which I mean 12-13^th c, are the cinquefoil (later refined into a rose) and the fleur de lis (but this is a rather late term for this charge; the symbol might have meant something altogether different originally). For instance: while the (Anglo-)Norman family of the counts of Anjou called Plantagenet has been nicknamed (or cog-named?) after the broomplant, it was never used on a heraldic shield.

 

>so, clearly, we are in the presence of a bunch of ill-tempered, dope smoking

guys who walk [and talk] like a duck.

 

Well, you must agree it’s a tempting image.

 

Henk